PATON S1-R LIGHT WEIGHT TRACK TEST
R I D E R E V I E W
P98
action limiter. A gear selector read-
ing would have been good, too. In
fact, the cheapo instrument is the
only complaint I have about this
bike, which is such a joy to ride in
something approaching anger. For
a bike carrying such a high price
tag, the Kawasaki ER6 dash simply
doesn't do it. It looks positively
vintage and only delivers a fraction
of the info I'd expect a bike of this
caliber pricewise to offer.
Still, good as the tuned Kawasa-
ki engine is, it's the Paton's won-
derful handling that really makes it
stand out. This combines an ideal
balance of high-speed stability
and agility though precise steer-
ing, coupled with ideal suspension
from the Ohlins package that just
soaks up any bumps you meet
cranked over. The fork is set up to
be quite soft in the initial part of its
stroke, presumably to absorb all
the minor road shock you get on a
public highway like the TT Course,
but then hardens up to prevent
bigger bumps from bottoming out
the suspension, as well as coun-
tering front-end dive on the brakes,
which are excellent. I could hold
off touching the front lever to stop
for the second-gear left at the end
of Cremona's long main straight
until after the 150-meter board,
then clicking down four gears all
together to find just enough engine
braking left dialed in to the Suter
slipper clutch setting to help with
stopping, without sacrificing stabil-
ity. Nice.
This also encourages you to
keep up turn speed which is
the secret to success with any
relatively underpowered bike like
this one—momentum is everything
on the Paton, and while its lighter
weight compared to the hitherto
dominant Kawasakis carrying the
same engine is supposedly the
reason for its current supremacy
in the Lightweight TT, I don't buy
that—it's a significant factor, of
course, but the bike's great han-
dling is surely the key issue.
It's a reassuring, predictable
package, with the Paton instantly
responsive to your riding input via
the fingertip-light but completely
predictable steering—this is not a
nervous bike, thanks to the fairly
conservative steering geometry.
However, it's also forgiving, too, so
that if you, ahem, misjudge your
turn speed and have to finger the
adjustable brake lever to lose a
Dunlop's racer (left)
stands side-by-side with
its production cousin.
